


Mirror

by storiesfortravellers



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Evil, Angst and Humor, Avengers Seeing AUs where each Avenger is evil, Clint is a smartass, Coulson's crush, Gen, Stony flirtation, Why does Coulson even put up with this?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-18
Updated: 2012-11-18
Packaged: 2017-11-18 23:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/566359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesfortravellers/pseuds/storiesfortravellers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avengers watch snippets from alternate universes where they are evil. Some despair. Some are introspective. Some snark. Everyone eats popcorn. Angst but also humor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this prompt at avenger_kink:"For whatever reason, the Avengers are made witness to six alternate universes.   
> In each of these universes, a different member of the team is that world's Big Bad.   
> Tell me about these other realities and the Avengers' reactions to seeing them, anons.   
> Is Nat at all bothered by seeing a world in which she is still accumulating red in her ledger? Are the team unsettled by the knowledge of a place where their noble, chivalrous Thor is instead a brutal, planet-smashing warlord? Is anyone frightened by the idea of Tony using the Iron Man suit for a decidedly more warlike purpose?"

“So… we’re going to watch them anyway, right?” Tony said, looking around at his teammates expectantly. “Obviously, I saved the file.”

“They’re probably not even real. I’m sure SHIELD can confirm they’re just images Loki invented to mess with us,” Steve said, looking over at Coulson and Sitwell. They had managed to drive Loki away from earth yet again, this time after he had tried to hold them prisoner in their own Tower. But there was still the matter of the files that Loki had downloaded and planned to force the Avengers to watch. 

Coulson gave a very neutral face. Sitwell stared at the ground.

“Wait, there are actually alternate universes where we’re evil?” Clint asked.

Tony felt he had a more relevant question. “Wait, SHIELD has scientifically validated information on alternate universes and they didn’t tell me!?? Do those guys at CERN know? Because they’re smug. You better not have told them first.”

“The weapon Loki used is indeed thought to be a window that allows one to see a parallel universe,” Thor finally admitted. “But my people consider it very unwise to see the things that could have been. It can only lead to dissatisfaction.”

“Sounds like sage advice,” Coulson said, “Especially since Loki claimed that he was going to make you watch your parallel selves as a way of psychologically torturing you.”

“Is it me or has that guy gotten kind of half-assed with his psychological torture?” Natasha said. Most of the team looked slightly disturbed at that comment, but Clint grinned. Coulson tilted his head as if he thought it was a valid and interesting point.

“This is not a good idea,” Sitwell said. “Captain? Dr. Banner? Don’t you agree?” he asked his presumed allies.

“Yeah, I’m terrified of seeing a scary side of myself,” Bruce said wryly.

“The only fair way to do this is by choice,” Steve said. “Anyone who wants to watch gets to watch, anyone who doesn’t goes to their quarters and is assured that nobody will tell them anything. But then after, we delete the file and we never speak of it again to anyone outside this room.” 

The other Avengers nodded. 

“I’ll make popcorn!” Tony said.

*****

Thor was first. There were only a few minutes, a few images of key moments in Thor’s conquest.

_He was brutal._

_He conquered lands, planets, doing terrible things, revolting things. Acting like…_

_A Viking._

_Loki was Thor’s most loyal friend, it seemed, in this universe. They were closer than ever, and there were many times when Loki whispered some brilliant scheme into Thor’s ear that only led to more carnage and more victory._

_Thor was quick to anger, arrogant, and merciless, and refused to listen to anyone but Loki. His legacy was destruction and pain._

They were all silent when it was done. 

Finally, Clint said, “Now, see, if I had never met you, just going by your looks, that’s exactly what I’d think you would be like. The hat doesn’t help either.”

“That’s not funny,” Thor said.

“It’s a little bit funny,” Clint answered.

“Fine. We’re watching yours next.”

*****  
 _  
Clint and his band of merry men take over the world without much trouble. Clint co-ordinates and does tactical planning and sniping, while hiring hackers and soldiers to do the rest._

_Clint takes his Robin Hood persona very seriously._

“I would never wear green tights,” Clint said.

“Like that’s so much worse than your circus uniform?” Tony said.

“Shut up, Tony.” 

_When Clint is king, he shoots arrows into anything or anyone he feels like. He labels one set of arrows “the court system” to punish those guilty of crimes. He labels another “people who would probably be funny to shoot.”_

_He likes shooting people in the ass._

_Natasha is there too, a member of the resistance sentenced to death for treason. She takes out a third of his elite squadron on her own before Clint gets her at the point of an arrow._

_He puts his bow down and says, “You know what? You’re impressive. Come work for me.”_

_She stabs him to death and frees the world. They want to make her the new queen but she makes a face like she’s eaten rotten cheese at the mention of being royalty. She goes into hiding and figures it’s not her problem if the world needs a few decades of civil war to figure their shit out._

“Good hit,” Clint tells Natasha casually.

She raises an eyebrow at him. “He’s just like you, always leaving his right flank open. You’ve got to work on that, Clint.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Clint says and offers her some popcorn since she’s finished hers.

She takes it and adds, “So who in _this_ universe do you think it would be funniest to shoot?”

“Let’s move on,” Sitwell suggests and goes to the next universe.

 

*****  
 _  
Tony created a cyborg army to rule the world._

_It was an ugly war that wiped out huge swaths of population, but Tony won it._

_Pepper rolled her eyes and insisted that if Tony were going to be world dictator, he should at least set up a government. Tony asked her to do it since he would rather hang out with his cyborg army._

_He also wanted to redecorate._

_Every city building had at least a story-tall portrait of Tony Stark on it. His face was carved into a mountain that hovered over Mount Rushmore. He decided that wasn’t enough and landformed an outline of his face onto the moon._

“Okay, I find this all very hard to believe,” Tony said finally. “I’m not _that_ egotistical.”

“Sure you are,” Steve said. 

Tony frowned and grumbled but kept watching.

Until: “What?! That’s outrageous? I would NEVER put out a Starkphone with such low capacity. And with those crappy apps! No. Not in any universe! Evil or otherwise!”

“Actually, my Starkphone has a lot of bugs. And that’s in this universe,” Coulson said with a small smile.

“Maybe you shouldn’t download so much porn,” Tony said.

“If that were an issue, your own phones wouldn’t work,Tony,” Bruce said with a smile.

“Fine,” Tony grumbled, “You’re next. Let’s see what the big guy does in evil land.”

Bruce shrugged.

 

*****

_The Other Guy doesn’t exist in this universe._

_Only Bruce Banner, mad scientist and world domination expert._

_He doesn’t even care about political or economic power. He just gets sick of governments trying to impose limits on his research funding, or, more importantly, trying to make him adhere to ethical standards._

_Bruce doesn’t let anything get in the way of his science._

_Eventually, it’s easier to just take over governments and corporations than to put up with their nonsense._

_Finally, Bruce is allowed to experiment on anyone he wants, for any reason he wants._

_He does._

The Bruce of the Avengers’ universe stared as he went from wincing at how terrible the Hulk was going to be, to realizing that he and he alone was the evil that took over the world. 

“I really want to kill me right now,” Bruce said, before clarifying, “Him-me. You know what I mean.”

“It’s not really you,” Natasha said, “None of these people are really us. Same face, same body, different people. Some are evil, some are… good at their jobs. That’s just how it is.”

“Maybe that’s just what we’d like to think,” Bruce said.

She said, slight edge to her voice, “I know a little something becoming a different person.”

They were silent. Natasha never talked about this.

“Like when you first wake up in the morning?” Clint said.

“Shut up,” Natasha said.

“Because you are _grouchy_ ,” Clint continued.

“You know what? I hope evil me also kills you,” Natasha said.

“Evil you sounds hot,” Clint answered.

“There is something wrong with you,” Bruce told him, to which Clint waggled his eyebrows in pride.

“Let’s go to the next one,” Coulson suggested with a sigh. 

“I volunteer,” Steve said.

“When have you ever _not_ volunteered for something?” Tony asked. 

“When you offered to talk about science for five hours with him?” Thor said. 

“Quiet, it’s starting!” Sitwell said.

*****  
 _Steve ruled the world with an iron fist._

_He granted everyone American citizenship regardless of if they wanted it. He renamed himself ‘Captain Worldmerica.’_

_He was always, always sure he was right._

_Anyone who dared to challenge him was put on trial for being a bully._

_He wore a uniform that draped his entire bodysuit with stars and stripes that clung tightly to him, emphasizing his physical strength. He made people he didn’t like play Hitler in the shows he put on every evening (watching was mandatory)._

_In this universe, Steve killed the scientist who gave him the serum to prevent anyone else from ever becoming as strong as he was._

_Bucky was part of one of the small groups brave enough to resist him. When Steve and Bucky ended up face to face on a train delivering weapons in the middle the Alps, Steve asked Bucky to join him. They were childhood friends, and Steve was willing to give him – and only him - a second chance._

_Bucky said no._

_Steve threw him off the track into a chasm._

Steve looked like he wanted to vomit.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” Clint said, “I thought evil Steve would just, like, make everyone eat their spinach or something.”

“He’s Captain America, not Popeye,” Tony said.

“You know, evil aside,” Coulson said as he popped a handful of popcorn into his mouth, “That uniform was exceedingly well designed.” He gestured at the still image of the skintight outfit that accentuated every curve of every muscle. “Maybe some modifications to yours are due?” 

Sitwell rolled his eyes and started the next one.

*****  
 _Natasha seemed…_

_Just like the Natasha they knew._

_Same facial expressions. Same style of fighting._

_Same everything._

_Just, she ruled the world._

_Most people had no idea she ran the world. They thought she was just an assassin or just an assistant or just an agent or just a spy._

_But she ran everything. Rather viciously._

_Coulson worked for her, handling the bureaucratic side. He shot everyone who didn’t fill out their paperwork properly._

_Things ran very efficiently._

_Brutally. But efficiently._

There was a pause after Natasha’s images ended.

“So…” Tony asked, “Are we 100% sure that this isn’t actually our universe?”

Natasha smiled as if to encourage Tony’s fears.

Sitwell folded his arms. “Nope. No way. If Coulson was the managing VP of the ruler of the world, there is _no way_ he’d agree to get stuck watching you six.”

“Fair enough,” Natasha said but gave Tony a little wink. Just to make him wonder.

“So are we all happy now? You all got to see evil you’s doing evil things.” Coulson said.

“My guy wasn’t evil,” Clint said, “He just guy overly excited. And ‘Tasha wasn’t evil either, just, you know, ambitious.”

“I wasn’t that bad, either,” Tony said.

“We were all monsters,” Bruce said, “So let’s shut this down.”

They were quiet for a moment.

Until Tony said, “You know, Steve, Coulson made a good point about your uniform.”


End file.
